Mike Argento: Wounded warrior Nathan DeWalt turns pro athlete

Retired Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Nathan DeWalt of West York adjusts the gears on his bike at the Air Force Academy here in preparation for the 2013 Wounded Warrior Games. (PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. NAVY)

There are probably a lot of things Nathan DeWalt thought he would never be doing. Some of them have to do with his physical condition - he was paralyzed in a violent motorcycle accident - and yet some have to do with where he is now and what he's doing.

Last week, that meant being in Colorado Springs for the Warrior Games , sitting about five feet from Prince Harry - yeah, that Prince Harry - and competing, for what may be the last time, in the games. He got to meet Prince Harry and it was, well, meh.

"I'm not big on meeting celebrities," he said.

He really didn't have much of an impression of the member of the Royal family. He was more excited to meet members of the British military who were competing in the Warrior Games. And he was more excited about meeting Misty May-Treanor, a three-time Olympic gold medallist in beach volleyball. May-Treanor is retired now, but to DeWalt is was just nice to meet another professional athlete.

That's what he does these days; he turned pro.

He's come a long way from a New Jersey hospital and rehab center where he had to learn how to live all over again.

The accident was July 11, 2008, a Friday. He was enlisted in the Navy at the time, serving at Navel Weapons Station Earle in northern New Jersey. That day, he had gone for a run on the beach at Belmar, about a 20-minute motorcycle ride the base. Running helped him stay in shape - he'd always been athletic - and helped with his training.

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He served as a master-at-arms, the Navy term for military police officer, and hoped, one day, to qualify to be a SEAL. In October, he was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan to serve on a security detail.

He would never go.

About 500 yards from the beach, there was a crash. He woke up in the hospital. He couldn't move his legs.

He was lucky to survive. All but three of his ribs were broken, the bone puncturing his lungs. He broke a collarbone. His spine was broken in half. On the X-rays, he said, it looked like he had two spines.

He spent 2½ weeks on life support.

When he came to, he knew.

He was paralyzed from about mid-chest down.

From the very first day, he made plans.

He worked hard at rehab and worked hard to come back. He always stayed positive. He was alive, and that's all that mattered. His injury is just part of who he is. He's still the same person.

He entered the Warrior Games four years ago as a challenge. He was still very active and thought the challenge would give him something to work toward. That first year, he was a newbie, competing in events as a member of Team Navy/Coast Guard. He learned quickly that winning medals is not what the competition is all about. It's about meeting other wounded warriors, learning from them, sharing with them, and bonding with them. They mean much more to him than some prince from England, or even a three-time Gold medallist.

This year is his swan song at the Warrior Games; he's retiring after four years. This year, he's serving more as a mentor than a competitor, helping the other guys get their bearings and showing them the ropes. He's only 25, but he sounds like a person who has acquired some wisdom in his short time.

He competed in wheelchair basketball and some track events. He also competed in shooting. The team needed someone to enter the air rifle competition, and he said he'd give it a try. Until a couple of weeks before the competition, he had never touched an air rifle. He managed to qualify for the finals and finish seventh. He was disqualified from competing in his best event, the paratriathlon because, well, he's a pro. (The paratriathlon is a sprint triathlon, consisting of a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer recumbent-bike race and a 5-kilometer wheelchair run.)

He's a member of the U.S. Paratriathlon Team. Last year, he competed in the world championships in Auckland, New Zealand. After the Warrior Games, at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, he'll travel to Austin for the Paratriathlon nationals.

Training is his full-time job now. He is a professional athlete.

And his personal life is good. After the accident, he moved back into his mother's house in Dover. From there, he moved to Maryland, where he met Erica Cepko. The two moved back to York County, buying a house in West York, and plan to marry. She changed his life, he said. And he changed her life too. She loves how positive and happy he is.

"My life's amazing now," he told a video crew not long ago. "I'm very thankful to be a part of this team and any activity that I'm able to do because just being alive is a blessing for me."

Getting to meet Prince Harry was cool, he guesses. But it's nothing compared to waking up every day and being alive. Nothing can be better than that.

Mike Argento's column appears Mondays and Fridays in Living and Sundays in Viewpoints. Reach him at mike@ydr.com or 771-2046. Read more Argento columns at www.ydr.com/mike. Or follow him on Twitter at FnMikeArgento.